Latest news with #ElMoutamid
News18
4 hours ago
- Science
- News18
NASAs Webb telescope discovers new moon orbiting Uranus
Washington DC [US], August 20 (ANI/ WAM): NASA announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, 29th satellite of Uranus, which was named S/2025 to NASA, a team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) identified the previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus during a Webb observation on 2nd February 2025, expanding the planet's known satellite family to diameter of the satellite is estimated to be only some 10 kilometres. The satellite's small size prevented NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft from spotting it in El Moutamid, a lead scientist in SwRI's Solar System Science and Exploration Division, said, 'It's a small moon but a significant discovery, which is something that even NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft didn't see during its flyby nearly 40 years ago."S/2025 U1 orbits Uranus at a distance of about 56,000 kilometres and will be given another name at a later stage. (ANI/ WAM)
India Today
6 hours ago
- Science
- India Today
James Webb Telescope discovers unknown moon orbiting Uranus
In what could be an astonishing new find, the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new moon going around Uranus at the edge of the Solar to be about 10 kilometres wide, the moon has remained invisible for decades after the Voyager-2 spacecraft conducted the lunar survey around Uranus. 'No other planet has as many small inner moons as Uranus, and their complex inter-relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history that blurs the boundary between a ring system and a system of moons,' said Matthew Tiscareno of the SETI He added that he new moon is smaller and much fainter than the smallest of the previously known inner moons, making it likely that even more complexity remains to be discovered. The latest discovery puts the tally of confirmed moons around Uranus to a whopping 29. Earth, for reference, has just one Moon.'It's located about 56,000 kilometres from Uranus' centre, orbiting the planet's equatorial plane between the orbits of Ophelia (which is just outside of Uranus' main ring system) and Bianca,' said El Moutamid. 'Its nearly circular orbit suggests it may have formed near its current location.'The new moon is the 14th member of the intricate system of small moons orbiting inward of the largest moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and new moon is, however, unnamed at the moment. Nasa said that a name for the newly found moon will need to be approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the leading authority in assigning official names and designations to astronomical objects. The new moon is the 14th member of the intricate system of small moons Uranus. (Photo: Nasa) This discovery comes as part of Webb's General Observer program, which allows scientists worldwide to propose investigations using the telescope's cutting-edge instruments. The NIRCam instrument's high resolution and infrared sensitivity make it especially adept at detecting faint, distant objects that were beyond the reach of previous observatories,' said El Moutamid.- EndsMust Watch
Al Etihad
6 hours ago
- Science
- Al Etihad
NASA's Webb telescope discovers new moon orbiting Uranus
20 Aug 2025 10:23 WASHINGTON (WAM)NASA announced Wednesday that the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, 29th satellite of Uranus, which was named S/2025 to NASA, a team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) identified the previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus during a Webb observation on 2nd February 2025, expanding the planet's known satellite family to diameter of the satellite is estimated to be only some 10 kilometres. The satellite's small size prevented NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft from spotting it in El Moutamid, a lead scientist in SwRI's Solar System Science and Exploration Division, said, 'It's a small moon but a significant discovery, which is something that even NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft didn't see during its flyby nearly 40 years ago.' S/2025 U1 orbits Uranus at a distance of about 56,000 kilometres and will be given another name at a later stage.
UPI
16 hours ago
- Science
- UPI
NASA's Webb telescope discovers a new Uranus moon
NASA scientists on Tuesday announced the discovery of a 29th moon orbiting Uranus while using infrared detection in the James Webb Telescope in February. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo Aug. 19 (UPI) -- NASA scientists at the Southwest Research Institute discovered a 29th moon orbiting Uranus while using infrared detection through the James Webb Space Telescope. The discovery was made on Feb. 2, but NASA officials did not announce the discovery until Tuesday in a news release. "This object was spotted in a series of 10 40-minute long-exposure images captured by the Near-Infrared Camera," said Maryame El Moutamid, lead scientist at NASA's Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colo. "It's a small moon but a significant discovery," El Moutamid said. "Even NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft didn't see [the moon] during its flyby nearly 40 years ago." NASA scientists estimate the newly discovered moon is 6 miles in diameter, which made it nearly impossible for Voyager 2 or other telescopes to discover. It's located about 35,000 miles from Uranus' center and has a nearly circular orbital pattern around the planet's equatorial plane. Uranus has the most small inner moons of all the planets within the solar system, according to NASA. "Their complex inter-relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history that blurs the boundary between a ring system and a system of moons," said Matthew Tiscareno, of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "The new moon is smaller and much fainter than the smallest of the previously known inner moons," he added, "making it likely that even more complexity remains to be discovered." The newly discovered moon awaits an official name to be determined by the International Astronomical Union. NASA scientists in May announced that four of Uranus' largest moons each likely contain an ocean layer of water between their respective cores and their icy surface crusts.
